As various terminals (electronic control unit, AVN, etc.) are mounted in vehicles, users often desire or are required to update software installed in vehicles. In addition, drivers may have to drive their cars to visit designated repair shops or centers in order to update the software. Accordingly, there is a need for methods of updating software installed in vehicles through wired and/or wireless connections.
Software updates through wireless connection is a method useful to simultaneously update the software installed in multiple vehicles. However, to update software without additional intervention of drivers, vehicles need to be connected to a wireless link and data transmission for downloading update software, which may cause additional costs.
Although such a software update method can simultaneously update software of many vehicles, a vehicle needs to be located in a designated place such as a repair shop or center. A step of directly locating an external device around the vehicle and authenticating a gateway connected to the external device is required. In addition, additional steps for software updates are needed since software updates require an intervention of a driver or a software update operator.
Furthermore, the software update method does not install a software update received and temporarily stored in a terminal. When a software update registered in a server is present, the software update method downloads the software update registered in the server without checking version information of temporarily stored software or the software update registered in the server. Accordingly, a software transmission necessary to update software of terminals is expensive.